Time (The Revelator)

Time (The Revelator)
Studio album by
Gillian Welch
ReleasedJuly 31, 2001
StudioRCA Studio B (Nashville, Tennessee)[1]
GenreAlternative country
Length51:34
LabelAcony
ProducerDavid Rawlings
Gillian Welch chronology
Hell Among the Yearlings
(1998) 		Time (The Revelator)
(2001) 		Soul Journey
(2003)

Time (The Revelator) is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Gillian Welch. All songs were written by Welch together with David Rawlings and were recorded at RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee,[1][2] with the exception of "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll", which was recorded live at the Ryman Auditorium as part of the sessions for the concert film Down from the Mountain.

Recording

Welch said of recording "Revelator," "It was a mic test – the version on the record. Dave just said, 'play 'Revelator' and it was okay, let's try it and we used the mic test." Rawlings added, "We played it once and it was great because we hadn't played it in months. We got that first take feeling."[3]

According to Rawlings, "I Dream a Highway" had never been played before it was recorded. "So, we played it twice and I edited both versions together. But, I wanted that because I knew it was a minor song that had ... There was a lot that could happen with the harmonies and the guitar playing than if we'd done it a lot of times, so we could just travel through a lot more of it than if we knew where we were supposed to start and where we were supposed to end."[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic86/100[4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Chicago Sun-Times[6]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[7]
The Guardian[8]
Los Angeles Times[9]
Pitchfork8.1/10 (2002)[10]
9.6/10 (2023)[11]
Q[12]
Rolling Stone[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]
Spin5/10[15]

Welch and Rawlings received a great deal of recognition for their work on Time. The album received many award nominations and was included on many "best album of the year" lists by critics. It has since been included on a number of "best of all time" lists.

In 2009, the album was ranked number 7 on Paste's "The 50 Best Albums of the Decade" list.[16] It was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[17] The album was ranked 64 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the decade,[18] and in 2020 the album was ranked number 348 in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[19]

Awards

Although Welch and Rawlings did not win in any category, the duo received four nominations at the first annual awards for the Americana Music Association in 2002.[20] Time (The Revelator) was nominated for Album of the Year, and "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll" was nominated for Song of the Year (prizes that went to Buddy and Julie Miller's Buddy & Julie Miller and "She's Looking at Me" by Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys). Welch and Rawlings together were nominated for Artist of the Year while Rawlings was nominated for Instrumentalist of the Year (awarded to Jim Lauderdale and Jerry Douglas respectively).

The album was also nominated for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 2002 Grammy Awards, but lost out to Bob Dylan's Love and Theft.[21]

Best album of the year lists

Appearances on best album of the year lists
Publication List title Rank
Addicted to Noise (US) 2002: Fifth Annual International Music Writers Poll[22] 10
Amazon.com (US) Top 100 Editors' Picks: Music[23] 57
Barnes & Noble.com (US) Albums of the Year 52
BigO (Singapore) Albums of the Year 12
E! Online (US) Top 25 CDs[24] no order
Heaven (Netherlands) Albums of the Year 3
Les Inrockuptibles (France) Albums of the Year 15
Mojo (UK) Albums of the Year 4
The New Yorker (US) Twelve Favorites from our 2001 CD Rotation[25] no order
OOR (Netherlands) Albums of the Year[26] 25
Rock's Back Pages Best of the Year: RBP's Albums of 2001[27] 10
Uncut (UK) Albums of the Year[28] 33
Village Voice (US) Annual Pazz & Jop Critic's Poll[29] 14
Washington City Paper (US) The CP Top 20 of 2001[30] 33
WFUV, New York City (US) Best of 2001 FUV staff Picks[31] no order
WUMB, Boston (US) Top Ten 2001[32] 3

Track listing

All songs written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

  1. "Revelator" – 6:22
  2. "My First Lover" – 3:47
  3. "Dear Someone" – 3:14
  4. "Red Clay Halo" – 3:14
  5. "April the 14th Part 1" – 5:10
  6. "I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll" – 2:51
  7. "Elvis Presley Blues" – 4:53
  8. "Ruination Day Part 2" – 2:36
  9. "Everything Is Free" – 4:48
  10. "I Dream a Highway" – 14:39

Credits

Musicians

Production

Artwork

Charts

Chart performance for Time (The Revelator)
Chart (2021) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[33] 157
US Billboard Heatseekers[33] 5
US Billboard Independent Albums[33] 7
US Billboard Top Internet Albums[33] 4

References

  1. ^ a b Mulvey, John (31 August 2011). "Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: "Until a song is right, we basically exist in a state of misery"". Uncut. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  2. ^ Production notes within the booklet accompanying the album.
  3. ^ a b Heselgrave, Doug (20 July 2011). "Talking with Gillian & David (Part II)". No Depression. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  4. ^ "Reviews for Time (The Revelator) by Gillian Welch". Metacritic. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  5. ^ Johnson, Zac. "Time (The Revelator) – Gillian Welch". AllMusic. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  6. ^ Houlihan, Mary (August 5, 2001). "Gillian Welch 'Time (The Revelator)' (Acony)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
  7. ^ Willman, Chris (August 6, 2001). "Time (the Revelator)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  8. ^ Costa, Maddy (September 28, 2001). "Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator) (Acony)". The Guardian. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  9. ^ Lewis, Randy (August 12, 2001). "Gillian Welch 'Time (The Revelator)' Acony". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  10. ^ Haywood, Brad (January 29, 2002). "Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  11. ^ Mapes, Jill (September 16, 2023). "Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator) Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  12. ^ "Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)". Q (183): 130. November 2001.
  13. ^ Santelli, Robert (August 16, 2001). "Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)". Rolling Stone (875). Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  14. ^ Berger, Arion; Caramanica, Jon (2004). "Gillian Welch". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 866–67. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  15. ^ Beaujon, Andrew (October 2001). "Patty Loveless: Mountain Soul / Gillian Welch: Time (The Revelator)". Spin. 17 (10): 131. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
  16. ^ "The 50 Best Albums of the 2000s". Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  17. ^ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  18. ^ "Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 greatest albums of the decade".
  19. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2020-09-22. Archived from the original on 2023-01-10.
  20. ^ Andrew Dansby, "Welch Leads Americana Nominees", Rolling Stone.com, August 5, 2002
  21. ^ "2002 Grammy Awards", CNN.com
  22. ^ "2002: Fifth Annual International Music Writers Poll", Addicted to Noise (with 30 votes link to list
  23. ^ "Top 100 Editors' Picks: Music", Amazon.com (link--no longer available)
  24. ^ "Top 25 Cds", E! Online, December 2001 (Archived February 23, 2002, at the Wayback Machine or original list)
  25. ^ "Pop Roundup: Twelve Favorites from our 2001 CD Rotation", The New Yorker, January 7, 2002
  26. ^ originally in Oorlijsten copy of list from muzieklijstjes.nl
  27. ^ "Best of the Year: RBP's Albums of 2001 ", Rock's Back Pages (Archived December 21, 2001, at the Wayback Machine of original list)
  28. ^ originally in Uncut, copy of list from rocklistmusic.co.uk
  29. ^ "Pazz & Jop Critic's Poll", The Village Voice (link to 2001 album list)
  30. ^ "The CP Top 20 of 2001" Archived 2008-12-05 at the Wayback Machine, Washington City Paper, December 21, 2001 (actually a nine way tie for 16th place with 15 points)
  31. ^ "Best of 2001 FUV Staff Picks", WFUV.org (named by 5 out of 16 staff members)
  32. ^ "Top 10 Cds 2001" Archived 2007-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, WUMB.org
  33. ^ a b c d Gillian Welch entry at Allmusic